An Interim Executive Director has stepped in to lead IRDR for a six-month transition period. During this time, a review of the IRDR programme will be conducted and recruiting a new ED will take place.

William (‘Bill’) Paton PhD has 30 years’ experience working for and leading international organizations outside his native Canada, much of it in developing countries in Africa and Asia. Dr. Paton served with the United Nations for nearly two decades, beginning with the UN’s Peacekeeping Mission in Mozambique and going on to serve three times as in-country leader of the UN system – in Congo, Tajikistan and Somalia.

During intense worldwide concern in 2007/2008 about the spread of ‘bird flu’ Bill was asked by the UN to head up their temporary global capacity to assist countries and UN agencies with contingency planning for a serious pandemic. He finished at the UN at the Assistant-Secretary General level.

Bill has a PhD in Development Economics from the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague and speaks French, Portuguese, Russian and Chinese. Bill has published on international labor migration and has also worked for the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Bill has also headed NGOs in Botswana and in war-time Mozambique.